The second coming.

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Tue May 16, 2006 8:29 pm

Attempt two at building a road going Piazza.

'86 Turbo Auto, owned by the same family since '88, less k's then my red one [148,000!], average interior, paint ok, body straight except for a huge dent in one door and a dent in a quarter. Engine dropped the timing belt and we all know what happens then...

I have two weeks to do the following:

- Engine from Red to silver
- Auto to manual conversion
- Put LSD diff in and bilsteins
- Whiteline swaybar from red to silver
- change carpet
- change eyelids and mirrors
- change steering rack

Balljoints apparently need replacement but well see how we go. Watch this space...

Nick-

Post by **wedgenut** » Tue May 16, 2006 9:52 pm

You need a door as well dude that is ugly. My turbo seized the cam before I got it and it made a real mess of the head bearings. On the bright side it DOES have a battry clamp

Rick82 · Post by **Rick82** » Tue May 16, 2006 10:42 pm

Why are you swaping everything out of the red one?? what happend to the red one?? did i miss something?

and if you think the conversion will be easy think again coz ive been there, and you cant imagine the amount of work that is involved. Anyway if you need any answears just msg me or call coz its all still fresh in my head. engine should be resonable quick, i pulled the engine out of my spare car in one hour.

Bugle · Post by **Bugle** » Wed May 17, 2006 1:22 am

That's a pretty bad dent you should swap the door from the red one. It's a serious pain in the ass panelbeating doors since you have fuck all access to the inside as i've found out with the Gemini..

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Wed May 17, 2006 9:49 am

Yeah i think i know where i can find a silver door and quarter in GC, so fear not i will get it fixed.

Rick82 wrote:Why are you swaping everything out of the red one?? what happend to the red one?? did i miss something?

Um, bad batch of paint = fucked paint [i shit you not the silver one looks better, dents and all], clutch is on the way out, steering rack is fucked, windows are fucked etc. Too much shit to change on it to get it up to scratch, plus i got this one at a good price so its worth it. The money i raise from selling the red car in bits ill eventually put into rebuilding the engine that came out of the silver one.

Do you remember which wires you needed to bridge to fuck off the park-neutral sensor?

Nick-

piazza-crx · Post by **piazza-crx** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:29 am

I have a pair of good condition silver doors with all bells/whistles still attached. Paint is in great shape.
If you or any of your mates are in adelaide before the 8th june let me know

Rodeobob · Post by **Rodeobob** » Thu May 18, 2006 4:01 pm

I wouldnt write that motor off in the silver car.

$100 for a VRS
$50 for a new belt

Good set of used valves and it will purr like a kitten again.
Even if you have to put a set of new valves in it its still easier than swapping a motor.

New oil, new filter and new spark plugs and with those Kms on it it will run like a new one.

I did this to a 2.3L motor and it runs fine. All i made sure i did was to scrape off any raised ridges where the valves had hit the pistons. I gave the valves i scavenged out of a cracked head a bit of a hand lap and put in the new valve stem seals. It runs like a clock.

Bonus is that if you get this motor running youve got a complete Piazza to sell in the red one.
Or youve got a whole running Piazza motor to sell off.

IMO
Your just making work for yourself.
Get the motor thats in it running and put it in for a RWC. Dont stuff about with this one Nick, just fix what needs to be done to get it on the road. Do all the LSD and Manual stuff latter down the track when youve got time and the car has been driven about so you know whats up with it and what needs improvement.

And while your stufffing about with Piazzas your Geminis not getting done is it????

No point ripping a motor out just coz its got a broken timing belt if its not blowin smoke or worn out. Fix it up.

Bob.

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Thu May 18, 2006 10:02 pm

Yeah i didnt really think about doing that, just automatically assumed itd be fucked coz i havent heard it running. Going to rip the head off tomorow night and see what the go is, hope the piston crowns arent damaged otherwise the engine out of the red one will be coming out

Rodeobob wrote:Get the motor thats in it running and put it in for a RWC. Dont stuff about with this one Nick, just fix what needs to be done to get it on the road. Do all the LSD and Manual stuff latter down the track when youve got time and the car has been driven about so you know whats up with it and what needs improvement.

Yeah i intend to, although i will be doing the diff swap - thatll take me less then an hour to swap the whole disc to disc assembly from one car to the other. Got holidays in a months time so ill be doing the box then. Do you know if the other 4Z flywheels bolt up [id assume they do?] and how they are for clutchs?

Nick-

Rodeobob · Post by **Rodeobob** » Fri May 19, 2006 1:50 am

GeminiCoupe wrote:hope the piston crowns arent damaged otherwise the engine out of the red one will be coming out

Should have 8 bent valves

The crowns will have dings in them. Ive marked the inlets (for my dad)but you can see the exhaust in the No2 cyl.

And it should/could have busted rocker arm/s as well.

Ive got a few here off a cracked head so sing out if you need some.

It will depend on how many RPM it was doing before it all came to a halt.

The above pics are of the motor i told you i did. It runs fine, just swapped in a straight set of valves out of a cracked head, replaced the broken rocker arms, cleaned up the tops of the pistons (shaved the raised bits of the whitness marks off the pistons as well to avoid leaving a "Hot spot") and bolted it back together with a new belt.

GeminiCoupe wrote:Do you know if the other 4Z flywheels bolt up [id assume they do?] and how they are for clutchs?

Nick-

The other 4Z flywheels are the same bolt pattern.
The Shuttles and the 2.3L motors have the same flywheel. (takes the same clutch as a G200Z)
The 2.6L motors have a larger flywheel.
The Piazza has its own flyweel thats not flat like a normal one. Id get a replacment clutch for a Piazza or get yours rebuilt.

Biggest issue is getting the auto spigiot bush out of the back end of the crank. If ive got the special tool made by then i can lend it to you.

Cheers. Bob.

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Fri May 19, 2006 10:20 pm

Ok, got the cam and rockers off tonight. None of the rocker arms are broken and the cam seemed to turn over pretty freely in the head [obviously until the lobes reached the valves that were "open"]. Bearings look OK except for the bearing closest to the first cylinder which looks burnt [will get pics].

The bad news is, the engine doesnt look like its had oil changed in about 10yrs. There is burnt, dried out sludge EVERYWHERE...

Lets hope it runs good ah?

Nick-

Rodeobob · Post by **Rodeobob** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:26 pm

GeminiCoupe wrote: The bad news is, the engine doesnt look like its had oil changed in about 10yrs. There is burnt, dried out sludge EVERYWHERE...

Lets hope it runs good ah?

Nick-

That doesnt sound too promising.

Suppose the best you can do is put it back together and see how it runs.
Go buy a few containers of Super Coles/Woolies oil and a some oil filters and run and flush, run and flush it.

If youve got the cam out etc, the next thing to get off would be the turbo in my book. Id pull it off and check it out. If its still in useable conditon you might be in with a shot that the motor will be Ok.

Or,

Once youve got the head off you will be able to see how things look anyway. If its stuffed youve only lost an hour or two on the engine swap.

Bob.

Rodeobob · Post by **Rodeobob** » Fri May 19, 2006 11:31 pm

Does your look like this??????

People wonder why motors spin bearings.

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:09 am

Not quite as thick and gooey, moreso flakey and dried up. Im thinking it may be time to do the engine swap instead...

Nick-

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Sat May 20, 2006 1:11 am

Im thinking just slap it together and see how long it lasts. I need a car badly so i cant be fucked fucking around. What could be an option is to strip the red car completely and sit the engine + box in the shed till the silver engine blows. Throw the red one in, rebuild the silver one then sell the red one. Meh.

Nick-

GeminiCoupe · Post by **GeminiCoupe** » Sat May 20, 2006 5:19 pm

Got some proper pics of the outside today, I reckon it looks ok considering what i paid. Might get my panelbeater to blend the faded bits and bits that need repairs in together, shouldnt cost me more then $400 once i get a door on it that is.

The cause of this mess..

Now, this is the mess that awaited me once i pulled the rocker cover off. Its pretty obvious if a car drops the timing belt that it wasnt really maintained properly, so i shouldve expected this...

This is the sludgey build up on the underside of the cam cover, had it all over the head too. Its not really thick and gooey, moreso dried and flakey - burnt.

My next cause of concern is the cam bearings. The cam wasnt siezed [thank god] and it turned over ok until it tried to push valves into pistons, ripped it off and the quick glance ive had on it it looks ok [no wear on lobes, cam journals look alright]. Unfortunately, the cam tunnel intergrated into the head looks FARKED

Looks like its burnt the fuck out of the bearing. Im guessing these are non-removable [ie. cast into the head]? Would it be ok if i just slap it together or does it really need attention. It feels smooth enough and theres no sharp, raised edges. Going to continue pulling shit off, hope the turbo is ok.

Nick-